Right on the heels of his Tallac debut album 'Pantheon', Booba drops another solo album. During the very first week of it's release it already bumped Diam's' "Ma Bulle" from the number 1 spot in the French charts. With the succes of "Pantheon" (40.000 units in it's first week, 3rd spot on France charts), Booba has seen a positive current in his work.
With a melange of several different influences Booba continues the heavy bass and synth influenced vibes, mixed with great samples ("Mistral Gagnant" sampled for Pitbull, oringial by Renaud) and production alike. The title of his third album, "Ouest Side", is a reference to both the Parisian background he hails from and his land of birth, Sénégal; "Both the song and the album "Ouest Side" refer to the western banlieue's, but also the Western regions of Africa, like Senegal", according to Booba in an interview with French website Cosmic Hip Hop.
With the majority of songs being produced by Kore & Skalp and Animalsons, Booba has narrowed down his productional unit a little bit, resulting in a more coherent sound and sequence, which which was a slight negative on "Pantheon". Also a step forward, is the lyrical content of the album. While Booba scared some long time Lunatic supporters away with the sometimes overtly material and superficial rhymes on his second album, he returns to his roots. Great flows combined with insightful rhymes ("C'est pas la rue mais l'être humain qui m'attriste, comment leur faire confiance, ils ont tué le Christ.") make a great MC truly great and although Booba already made a claim for the throne of French rap with his last album, this album might actually entrench him right there.
Booba's true strength is his way with words and their meanings. On the bangin' "Le Duc De Boulogne" for example, Booba expresses in few words what sociologists need whole essays for. This wit makes Booba an outstanding MC, while he sometimes suffers from his own talent. It's like the highly talented basketball players like Kobe Bryant, who sometimes prefer to take the easy way, because they tend to impress anyway. Booba has a few lapses here and there where he holds on to stereotypical or unoriginal aspects of the game, as where he's fully capable of overstanding them.
For example, Booba didn't really need Akon for this album, let alone include a track like "Gun in Hand" which, while not bad, doesn't stand out, with the huge slur of Akon-laced singles as of late. The gun-themed track puts Booba in a position where he seems to be very straight forward as where, as MC, he could use much better words "to channel" his frustration with certain subjects. The single "Boulbi" suffers the same fate, which seems to be a certain lack of inspiration, or may just be an easy way to score some moved units. Either way, on both accounts the tracks aren't bad, but a little easy.
Booba's growth as a solo artist has been remarkable and it's undeniable he's residing at the top of the French hip hop game right now. You can dislike the arrogance, persona or music, but the quality is undeniable and Booba once again deliveres a very good album.
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